The Battle of Olimandias
The Battle of Olimandias was an event that took place in the year 5 ADW. It resulted in the death of Emperor Khuffie, the end of The Legends Alliance, and the destruction of Verden. The warlord known as Chikara Nadir was reborn as the embodiment of Lazu, God of Chaos, at the end of the conflict. Background Khuffie's hold over The Legends Alliance was faltering by the year 5 ADW. The nations of Vanadiel and Uradiel had gone to war over an old grudge. The nation of Sornaiid had gone into an open state of rebellion against Khuffie's rule. The nation of Lanasach remained isolated and plagued by raiders, significantly lowering the morale of its citizens. The Roslen port of Hatena had been conquered by Ikana Canyon in the Second Domain War and needed to be retaken by the Alliance military. These problems could only be resolved with hefty investments of money and manpower. Khuffie's once mighty army was stretched thin, and it appeared that the Alliance was poised for a fall. Selena Nadir had been waiting for the opportunity to invade the city of Olimandias for many years, and she gathered the leaders of the domains together with the assistance of Keel. At an island summit in the middle of the Lalvican, the domains formed a temporary coalition in order to storm the Alliance capital and kill Khuffie. The Forsaken Fortress, The Lost Woods, Ikana Canyon, and The Labyrinth became allies for the first and only time in history. They laid out their plans for conquest and rallied their armies. The plan was to be executed in stages: - One domain would draw troops away from Olimandias by providing a distraction that Khuffie could not afford to ignore. - The Forsaken Fortress would then escort a naval landing party to the coastline near Olimandias to drop off the remaining coalition troops. - The soldiers of the landing party would rendezvous with Labyrinth warriors at Olimandias. - Regular soldiers would engage the Alliance military in battle. - Elite teams would infiltrate Khuffie's palace and assassinate the emperor. Ikana Canyon was the first domain to take action. They would send a strike force to attack the city of Ur'Almen so that Alliance soldiers would be drawn away from the capital. Ikana Canyon would go on to cause significant damage to the city and succeeded in drawing a sizable force of Khuffie's elite soldiers away from Olimandias. With Olimandias now lacking their full defense force, the remaining soldiers of the domain coalition began their naval landing several miles outside of the capital. The Landing The naval landing of coalition troops was the fastest way to gather and deploy all of the forces necessary to take the capital, as a land gathering would have been spotted long before they reached the city limits. This was also the most dangerous portion of the battle, as the Alliance possessed a significant number of advanced warships. The Forsaken Fortress was the only domain with vessels powerful enough to stand toe-to-toe with the Alliance Navy. The Fortress was to escort landing vessels to the coast and take out as many enemy vessels as possible. The Alliance Navy was alerted to the presence of the landing party as they neared the coast and quickly assembled to defend their homeland. The two sides began to fire once in range, with the first sea victory going to the Forsaken Fortress. The winds then changed, literally, as a powerful mage eliminated half of the domain fleet in one fell swoop. Seven thousand warriors were killed in action, lowering domain forces to a mere three thousand men and women. Steel took command of domain troops and marched them to Olimandias to continue with the operation as planned. The Battle Begins Jordan of the Whirlwind Spear was one of the first soldiers to reach the walls of Olimandias and prevented the east gate from closing by using his wind manipulation skills to knock out the guards on duty. This allowed the domain soldiers behind him to storm through the gate and into the city. At the same time, Selena's force of one thousand Labyrinth elites left the Hakubi Road and stormed through the south gate so quickly that the Alliance could not close it in time. Labyrinth troops then proceeded to the east gate to reinforce the other members of the domain coalition, and began to carve them a path by wiping out any soldiers they encountered along the way. The entire domain force then began a two hour push toward Khuffie's palace at the center of the city with intense fighting hindering their progress. Domain forces took minimal losses during this portion of the battle due to superior tactics and quick thinking. After reaching the outskirts of the palace, the domain forces split into their two planned factions. Steel and his elite warriors began their assassination mission to kill Khuffie while Selena remained in charge of the actual battle. As the assassins infiltrated the palace, Selena secured various choke points around the city using her limited number of troops, maximizing their kills ratios and preventing the Alliance from marching back to the center of the city. Unfortunately, ten thousand Alliance troops, having been waiting in the forests outside the city, reinforced the soldiers already fighting. It had been a trap. Domain forces were then severely outnumbered and soldiers of the Canyon, Woods, and Fortress began to take serious losses. Selena's Labyrinth elite remained in place at their designated choke points and held ground. Steel ordered the domains to retreat back to the gates and scatter once they could fight their way out of the city. Leo Crimson, a warrior of the Lost Woods, was given the task of leading the main push back to the gates. The Labyrinth forces did not immediately give up their posts, as Selena had a special task to perform at the Temple of Diel. Birth of the Goddess As part of an agreement, Selena went to the Temple of Diel to fetch an artifact for Keel. This was the price she had to pay for using his abilities to plan and execute the Battle of Olimandias. After locating the relic, however, Selena was ambushed by Chikara Nadir. Chikara had fled to Olimandias after being driven from the Labyrinth by Selena's murderous ambition, and she had waited there for the chance to strike out. Selena and Chikara began a duel in the heart of the temple. As with all of their fights, the two furiously taunted each other in the midst of combat. After some minutes of conversational dueling, Chikara acknowledged that Selena was the superior leader and intended to pass rulership of the Labyrinth onto her. However, this could not be done if Chikara were still alive. Rather than allow Selena to murder her, Chikara took her own life using Selena's dagger. Selena had been expecting a much more drawn out fight and had anticipated that Chikara would flee once things grew too serious. She nearly suffered from an emotional breakdown at the sight of her dying mentor and best frien-emy. The artifact that Selena had been ordered to recover had been shoved outside of the Temple during their fight and had landed in the hands of Keel. The dark stone was holding back the full power of Lazu, God of Chaos. Keel, an avatar of the god, now had the authority to free all of Lazu from spiritual captivity. This process would destroy Keel's ancient body. He had intended his apprentice, Xeres, to become the embodiment of a full powered Lazu. He had trained her specifically for the job. Upon seeing that Chikara was about to die, however, some element of mercy woke up within his heart. He took Chikara's body and ordered Selena to flee the city. Once he was left in peace, Keel made Chikara the next embodiment of Lazu, restoring her to life and giving her the powers of a god. Keel was destroyed in the process. Chikara woke up with the voices of all previous avatars in her mind and divine powers at her fingertips. For someone who had been (essentially) mortal and had little experience with the powers now at her command, Chikara rapidly descended into madness as her brain was overloaded with knowledge and strength beyond her previous capacity. Almost out of divine instinct, Chikara teleported to a fleeing Selena and felt the urge to attack. A quick series of mood swings resulted in Selena's continued existence. Seeing that Chikara was mentally unstable, Selena coaxed the newborn deity into a competition to see how many Alliance soldiers they could kill, hoping that this would keep her alive long enough to escape. The result was the utter destruction of Olimandias as Chikara used her powers to gleefully destroy the city. Having been humiliated by Khuffie in the past, Chikara then rushed to his inner chambers to do away with him. ...Only to find that Khuffie had already been assassinated by Steel, Goose, and their companions. Chikara grew furious. Selena attempted to warn Steel and the others to flee, but mass confusion followed. Selena turned on Chikara and ran. Steel, attempting to win the favor of the new deity, attacked Selena for her 'disrespect toward the goddess.' They began to duel in the empty halls of Khuffie's palace. Outside the palace, Jordan overheard the name of Lazu and, fearing that Olimandias would become as corrupt as the Labyrinth or Eagle's Talons, he created a vortex of wind that began to destroy the palace, hoping to crush the enemy within. Selena broke the duel with Steel and escaped outside. The impact of the collapsing palace was no trouble for Chikara, who saved herself and those around her. She then battled briefly with the Admiral of the Fortress. When all was said and done, Steel swore loyalty to the goddess, the Admiral escaped to parts unknown (as far as anyone else was concerned), Selena fled south with a large number of survivors, and all hell broke loose. Destruction of Verden With nothing left to tie her to the Alliance, Chikara began unleashed her full powers and began to send the land into a fit of quakes and other natural disasters. Every city of the Alliance began to crumble into nothingness. However, in her rage, she also began to destroy the domains. The Lost Woods was burnt to the ground. The Lalvican Sea boiled. Ikana Canyon was claimed by a quake and a subsequent tsunami, the ruins permanently lost. Even the Labyrinth, Chikara's beloved home, began to cave in. The land sank into the tunnels of the Labyrinth, crushing all those who still resided within and weaving a 'spiderweb' pattern of terrain depressions all over southern Verden. A curse was placed upon the original lands of Verden. Anyone who dared to stay in the regions touched by Chikara's destruction would be driven mad, reduced to only their primal emotions. People became senselessly violent, turning on anyone within fighting range. Only the strong-willed were able to stay sane long enough to flee the cataclysmic events. Upon waking from her god-rage, Chikara realized the gravity of her actions and, resolving to make amends, decided to create a new civilization south of the Taj-Nar Mountains. She led her own faction of survivors over the southeastern pass and founded The Empire of Koridai with her new trusted followers. Selena had formed another domain to resist her rule, The Kingdom of Calatia, and both new cultures began to prepare for war... Category:History: Battles